


Game of the Gods

by EmeraldMoon



Category: DC Universe, Damian Wayne - Fandom, Game of the gods, Teen Titans
Genre: Alfred Pennyworth is Dead, Bruce Wayne Has Issues, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Damian Wayne Feels, Damian Wayne Has a Crush, Damian Wayne gets teased a lot, Damian Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Dick Grayson is Damian Wayne’s Parent, Dick Grayson is a Ray of Sunshine, F/M, Good Grandparent Alfred Pennyworth, Jason Todd Has Feelings, Multi, Protective Damian Wayne, Protective Dick Grayson, Protective Jason Todd, Tim Drake Needs Sleep, Tim Drake is snoopy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28883352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldMoon/pseuds/EmeraldMoon
Summary: Humanity has sunk deeper into the abyss; more and more people enter hell after they die for their punishment. Even though Earth has great heroes such as Batman and Superman the evil keeps on rising. To stop this madness, the gods have decided to grant power to people who deem worthy, but the power of the god has a heavy exchange; to some are physical, and to some are emotional. Those people are called Champions, their mission is to catch Shadows, creatures that are born from negative feelings and can only bring chaos and distraction.
Relationships: Damian Wayne & Tim Drake, Damian Wayne/Original Female Character(s), Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Garfield Logan/Tara Markov, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd/Kara Zor-El, Jonathan Kent/Colin Wilkes, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake, Talia al Ghul/Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Kudos: 3





	1. A black creature and a mysterious fox

It was a quiet night at Jump City. The stars covered the sky like an enfeeble blanket and the moon was so big and bright that gave light and life to the city beneath. Another night, another patrol, and yet no monsters or villains. This city sure was more peaceful than Gotham, the city that had earned the title city of crime where lunatics flood the roads and death was considered normal, to some degree at least.

"This is annoyingly boring, no one dies anymore." said the vigilante with the colorful uniform.

"Isn't that a good thing? " the bird above him replied.

"It is, but it's also boring"

"well, it's the truth that I'm dying from boredom over here... I wish I could patrol with Rae" the bird said as he transformed into a boy,

"I thought she scares you"

"only a little bit"

" _You hear that Raven Beast boy is afraid of you._ " said a voice

"I forgot to tell you, our communicator is on"

"Tanks a lot Robin and blue you didn't really have to repeat it..."

" _No, I didn't have to but I wanted to_." the man to whom the name blue belonged, replied sarcastically.

"...Rae, I was only joking"

" _Save it for someone who actually cares._ " another voice said

"You are not mad, are you? I can never tell... Rae? hello?"

"she shut off her communicator... and in a bad time too... look." Robin pointed in the direction where smoke was rising.

"Fire?" Beast Boy asked."

"doubt it... let's go." He said and immediately jump off the roof.

"Wait Robin we should alert the others..." Beast boy yelled but the boy wonder was too far to hear "Jeez, that's why I hate patrolling with him" he mumbled.

He let go of his grabbing tool and landed on a roof, he started running in the direction of the smoke, jumping from roof to roof. " _Robin observe from afar and wait for back up._ " A voice belonged to an older man ordered him. He should have known better, you can't tie Robin down. When he finally reached his destination he saw the black smoke surround people and within that black smoke was a figure. **I'm hungry, so very hungry**. He heard a squeaking voice that pierced his eardrums. The boy jumped within the smoke and hold his cape to his face in order to block the smoke from entering his system. **I want food, I need food.** The voice said yet again. He looked around him and even with his mask it was hard to see, the smoke was getting thicker and thicker until everything was painted black. It was also getting hard to breath, he felt like he was suffocating but he kept ongoing. He walked slowly and carefully when he felt a hand grub him, he looked down and saw an old man, he was thin and looked like he hadn't eaten for days, his facial bones were showing and yet the way he was dressed didn't seem like he was the kind of person he couldn't afford food. He whispered something, but the noise around them sucked his words. Robin bow down and asked the old man what he said, he replied **I'm too young to die,** Then the man closed his eyes and whispered something else **but I'm way too tired to live.** He put his hand to the old man's neck to see if he was still alive but he felt no pulse. Robin looked around and only then he was able to see the body of a young girl, she had her face to her knees and was trying to keep her sobs. The girl was holding the hand of a woman and liked the man she looked like she hadn't eaten for days her facial bones were also exposed and the way she was dressed didn't match her appearing age. The girl looked up and saw Robin she put her index finger in her mouth and shush him. He followed the girl's advice and didn't make a noise he got closer to the girl walking low. He didn't know how much he could hold on in this thick smoke but there was a small and frail girl in front of him that needed help. When he got close to the girl, she left the hand of the dead woman and hugged him tightly. **She ate her, she ate my mommy**. The little girl told him as soundless as she could. Robin looked at the woman to whose hand she was holding. " _It's going to be okay, I'm going to get you out of here_ " He whispered to her and she hugged him even tighter than before, up until she lost consciousness from the heavy smoke. He didn't have much time. Soon he heard something in this black abyss that was filled with silence, he picked the girl and jumped to the side. He saw in the place he previously stood a female monster made from some weird black mass, she too, looked like a starving woman, but she had the form of a demon. **Food, a teenager my favorite dessert and for the main course the little girl, how nice of you that you came to be eaten and also brought my main course. Perhaps if I eat you both I will stop being hungry**. She said and rushed forward on Robin, but he slipped away from her with ease, he had to finish her fast he couldn't keep his breath for much longer. He took from his utility belt a couple of batarangs and throw them at her. They stuck on her chest but she easily devoured them as she was made of some kind of clay. **Foolish boy, Human weapons can't hurt me**. She screamed.

"How about magic? Azarath Metrion Zinthos" Raven said and black shadows started to emerge from the road and started to surround her. She was successfully caught.

"I thought I told you to observe and wait for back up" Nightwing storm out to his little brother.

"If I did that she would be dead" Robin reply and point in the girl he was holding in his arms.

"Raven, can you do something about the smoke?" A beautiful woman with long red hair and a soothing voice said. Raven closed her eyes and put forth her hand. Moments later the smoke was gone, and the bodies of elderly men and women appeared, and just like before their clothes didn't suit their age.

"What the hell happened here?" Blue Beatle said at the sight.

"Well, Robin you wanted some deaths." Beast Boy said as he transformed back to his original form.

**Food, more satisfying food. The younger they are, the tastier they are.**

"Sorry to disappoint you lady... thing, but you are not getting out of there. Don't you worry though I'm pretty sure that the place you are headed has a lot of food" Beast Boy said and he put his hand over her shoulder to show empathy. 

Soon her hand was in Beast Boy's neck and she was struggling him. "She is free, she is free." Beast Boy said with great effort.

 **Not as young as them but still tasty.** The woman said.

"What is wrong with you and food?" Blue Beatle said as he fired to her hand, which fell down and beast boy was free again.

"Next time stay away from the villain, or whatever that thing is." Raven told him as she put a barrier around them. The woman attacked him again and the hand Blue Beatle shot off moments ago reattached itself. 

**Magic like this can't bind me down. I'm gonna eat you all as I did to them, it's going to be a feast tonight.**

"Man from all the days Superboy could go to Metropolis he chose the worst." 

"I can't hold her off for long " Raven said.

"We need a plan and fast" Starfire said and looked over to Nightwing

**Give it to me, Give me your souls, I want them to satisfy my hunger. I...**

As she was about to say something she froze entirely. 

"Shadows like you can't continue to stench our world." said an enchanting voice.

Damian followed the voice and saw a girl with beautiful long silver hair, a pair of white fluffy ears, and a white fluffy tail. She was wearing a black kimono, the skirt of the kimono was red and had black flower patterns, the bow on her waist was also red as well as the ends of her sleeves, she was also wearing a black fox mask with red details and her front hair were tied up in the shapes of braids behind her head where bells were used as a hair clip. 

Damian looked the girl in the eyes, she had beautiful red eyes that were similar to rubies, they were hypnotizing and he felt that if he stared for too long he would fall into an eternal slumber. 

"She is very misleading." He thought, her power was ice, but she could fool anyone with her appearance. The only thing similar to ice was her fair white skin, her silver hair, and her tail and ears.

She whispered something that was similar to a spell and the monster in front of them disappeared inside the book she was holding. The moment the monster disappeared, strong wind and snow surrounded the mysterious girl making her disappear as well.

"Who was that?" Nightwind said. All of them were still staring at where the girl used to stand, only to be pulled out from the girl that Robin was holding in his arms, she was coughing, it was natural after all the girl had inhaled a lot of smoke.

"I can heal her." Raven said and went closer to Robin, he let the girl down and Raven began the spell "with the power of Azarath I beseech you, Azarath Metrion Zinthos". The little girl slowly opened her eyes and looked at the Titans but her stare didn't remain on the for long, she looked back at the woman whose hand she was holding moments ago, tears started coming up in her eyes and she turned back to Robin, she hugged him and started to cry again this time though she didn't have to be quite so she cried as loud as she could. 

Robin wasn't the emotional type, he didn't know what to do nor what to say to the girl that clinged to him tight like she was afraid of him leaving. 

She started yelling, "My mom, my mom is dead because of me, it's all my fault"

"I am sorry little one if only we were here sooner." Starfire said as she pat the girl's head, she looked over to Raven and nodded. She immediately understood what the older titan and leader wanted her to do, so she did it, she put the little girl to sleep.

The sound of the sirens filled the streets and their light was blinding. The Teen Titans were on the roof of the building across and were watching the chaos. Even so, Robin's eyes were still fixated on the place where the girl once stood.

"Damian, did you know her?" His older brother asked him as he noticed where his gaze was locked on.

"No" He said and turn away to head back to his apartment.


	2. A bright night

Robin got to his apartment through his bedroom window, followed shortly by Nightwing.

"Ever heard of a door?" The older bird teased him.

"Didn't see you using one." He replied as he was taking off his uniform.

"Fair point... are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Come on Dami tomorrow you start high school... You do know that they are remarked as the cruelest years of someone's life right? "

"Can't be worse than the League of Assassins" He turned and faced Dick "Why don't you just ask me what you really want to ask me?"

"You're a sharp one... I just wanted to remind you, not to emerge in any unnecessary fights, when you were in middle school we had to change six schools and move permanently to Jump City" Damian looked at Nightwing, Because of him, Nightwing moved from Bludhaven to Jump City so he could look over his youngest brother. 

"If anything of the sort happens I can take the responsibility myself, and if there is a need to move I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I don't need a babysitter"

"I know that but I'm also your guardian and your older brother, like it or not you are not going anywhere without me. But in all honesty, I do like my life here, I like my job as a detective and being with the Teen Titans but most importantly the Titans are the closest people you have as friends and I don't want you to lose that, I'm not asking you to stay out of trouble for me but I'm asking you to do it for you, besides this may be your chance to make friends of your own age"

"You forgot Jon, the others may be older in comparison but he is my closest... associate"

"You mean FRIEND... Jon is thirteen years old Dami, and he will be very busy with school not to mention millions of miles away in Metropolis, and the rest of the titans will be busy with college or work. You need friends of your own age, otherwise, you may end up isolated, and with that, I mean more than you already are"

"Jeez, thanks for your inspirational words, and in any case, I like being alone." Damian said as he got out of his room and headed towards the kitchen.

"At least try to make friends tomorrow..." Dick told him as he followed him "I really don't want to lose the bet I made with Jason" He whispered the last part in hopes that his little brother wouldn't be able to hear. Damian pause ahead of the stairs and looked Dick with an expression filled with annoyance. His dark emerald eyes were fixated on his sea-blue eyes. 

"You made a bet with Jason about me?" Damian asked him angrily.

"Do you have some kind of sonic hearing..." Dick said while he was surprised by the fact that Damian was able to hear him but his glare got more aggressive. "Yeah, I bet that you could at least make a friend during freshman year while he said that you wouldn't" Dick finally told him as he gave in. 

"Oh yeah?? and what exactly did you bet??" Dick stayed silent for a moment.

"The loser has to be the winner's slave for a whole day "

"Too bad for you, Jason tends to be cruel to things like that" Damian said while he grinned evilly. 

"You're not actually planning **not** to make any friends so I can lose the bet are you???" He anxiously asked him. Damian ignored his question and instead he walked into the kitchen. He opened the fridge in hopes to find something to eat. "There's nothing other than meat here." he mumbled to himself. He sighed at the sight and then looked over to his dog. He went towards the door and put his jacket on, and took his dog leash in his hand. The dog that was staring at him rushed over to his side the moment he took the leash in his hand. 

"Dick I'm walking Titus and I'm getting dinner, want something?"

"Don't we have plenty of food?" Dick asked him while putting his shirt on.

"We only have meat" 

"Oh... sorry tomorrow I'm going shopping, what are you getting?"

"Probable Falafel or something of the sort"

"You really need to start eating meat, that's why you're short" Dick teased him as he messed his hair.

"I hate meat... if you don't want something I'm leaving"

"I want a Cheeseburger oh and before I forget Kori will be coming over"

"For dinner? should I buy something for her too?"

"Get her a Cheeseburger as well, and no, not for dinner she will be staying over" Damian stayed silent and looked at his brother.

"what's with the silence?"

"You've been dating for many years."

"Yeah so?"

"Don't you think it's time for the next step?" As Damian said that he noticed Dick's color change to a light red. "For what it matters, I like Starfire she is a dependable leader and you two make a nice couple" and with those words, he opened the door only to find Starfire ready to knock.

"Damian, you're going out?" 

"I'm taking Titus out for a walk and getting us dinner. You like Cheeseburger right?"

"Umm yes, would you like me to join you in your walk?"

"No, I like walking Titus alone." He looked over his shoulder to see his brother, his face was still red, and looked very skeptical. He sighed and put his hand over Starfire's shoulder and whispered to her "My condolences". Starfire's eyes widened but before she could ask him what he meant, he had put on his earphones and were walking away.

"I wonder what he meant" she blurted out then looked over to Dick "Did the two of you had a fight?"

"No, but I just realized something... he is way more observant and opened minded than what he used to be"

"More patient too, of course, that is to be expected after all he has been a member of the Teen Titans for over three years now" She peeked over to Dick, as Damian was leaving slowly her vision field, "He told you something and put you deep in thoughts"

"Actually what he told me is what I've been thinking for a while now, but I was caught off guard, didn't expect him to notice" 

"And what was that he noticed?"

"I'm gonna tell you tomorrow night over dinner, just the two of us."

"No fair Grayson." She said and gave him a kiss

"Sorry but you have to be patient." He said and kissed her again. "I estimate that we have around thirty minutes at most" he whispered in her ear.

~*****~

As Damian was walking he noticed that the atmosphere had become rather chilly, he looked up in the night sky and saw a million stars that enlighten the sky. He took a deep breath and pulled his phone out of his pocket to see the time. "I've been walking for thirty-five minutes, I delayed so they can spend some time alone, but now I started to get rather hungry, if I go now to the store I will need another twenty-minutes to walk back" He looked over Titus who was trying to catch a firefly. He sighed and whistle to Titus, and the gigantic dog looked over at him. He started slowly walking when he saw his destination he tied up Titus outside. "I will soon be back." He said to his dog and gently pat him in the head.

As he went inside the store he stumbled upon a girl. He looked down only to see her big icy blue eyes meet his. " _Is she a middle schooler?_ " He wondered.

The girl had long silver hair just a little bit shorter than the girl with the black fox mask. She looked pretty similar to the other girl, the biggest difference between the two of them was the color of their eyes, one had ruby eyes while the other had icy-blue. Then it was the hair length, this girl's hair was a little shorter, but the difference wasn't so noticeable. He opened his mouth to talk but before he could the girl spoke.

"I'm very sorry that I bumped into you." The girl said and bow. " _A bow? her skin is extremely white and she has slanting eyes. Probably Asian, her English though is rather good._ " He thought.

"I didn't see you either" Damian replied coldly.

"Still I ought to be more careful". " _Her voice is also similar to that girl_ "

"Miss your order is ready." said the woman behind the cash machine.

"Thank you very much" Damian moved aside so the girl could pass, as she did, he studied her. Her body type also looked similar and her height as well. He was certain that this was the girl that saved the Titans tonight.

"Sir, may I take your order?" The employee asked him. once the girl was outside he turned and look at her.

"One Falafel and two cheeseburgers" Damian looked over at the fridge and added. "I also want one Coca Colla and two Beers." The woman looked at him hesitantly, and Damian soon realized why "Relax the beers are for my older brother and his friend" He said and pointed out to two boys that were in their early twenties and were talking outside the shop.

"Right, I'm sorry. That would be 16,23$ in total." Damian gave her the money and put the change in the tip jar. He glimpsed outside the window and saw the boys he used as an excuse to buy the beers. He technically didn't lie since the beers were for his older brother and his girlfriend, besides, he preferred whiskey and wine over beer. He then moved his gaze over to Titus where he saw the girl from earlier petting him gently.

"Sir, your order is ready." The woman said. He looked at her once again and nod his head as a sign of thanks, then he moved out of the store where he heard the girl talking to Titus.

"You're a good boy." The girl said gently to the dog. 

"His name is Titus" She looked over her head and saw Damian. " _She is really short, she barely is taller than Titus_ "

"He is a very beautiful dog... and big." She told him.

"That he is..." He looked over her again there was no doubt it was the same girl but something felt off. The girl that saved him and his team felt much colder and distant than her. "Isn't a little bit late to be out?" He asked her.

"I only came to buy dinner." She said while giving him a warm smile.

"I see... well you should be careful on your way back." He said as he was untying Titus.

"I will thanks". He looked over his shoulder to see the girl walking away. "Should I follow her?" He wondered. Titus barked at him and started pulling him towards the direction of their home. 

"I'm home." He said as he got in.

"You are rather late." Dick said.

"I thought you guys could use some alone time." He said and took his Colla and Falafel and headed towards his room.

"We were thinking about watching a movie"

"I'll pass." He said and entered his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first few chapters are probably going to be a little boring, but they will also help to understand the characters and the relationships between them a little bit better.


	3. The start of a new interaction

Damian woke up with the first light of the day, he always woke up early, a habit he picked up from the league of Assassins and from being Robin all these years. He looked at the clock in his bedside table, 5:48. He had plenty of time before school starts. He dressed, and took Titus with him for a run. Once he got back, he went straight to the bathroom to shower then he put his school uniform and got downstairs in the kitchen to make breakfast. 

"Good morning" Dick told him as he put his badge on his waist.

"Smells fantastic in here, are those pancakes?" Starfire said the moment she stepped in the room.

"Yes, Alfred taught me how to make them." 

"Which reminds me, have you talked with Bruce?" Dick asked him, and waited for an answer, but instead of one the room was filled with silence that only the sound of the oil simmering broke it. "I take your silence as a no, have you guys talked at all these past few months?"

" once " He coldly replied.

"And when was that exactly?" Damian looked over his shoulder to see Dick whom seemed irritated.

"Three months ago."

"Seriously??? Both of you are so stubborn. Just call him already he is your freaking dad, you can actually show him that you care"

"I didn't see him calling; besides you know that we aren't exactly on speaking terms"

"Damian, don't you think it's time to leave back the past and move forward?" Starfire said as she tried to steal a little bit of the dough.

"Leave the dough alone and be more patient" Damian told her without taking his eyes off the pan. "As for father, I'll talk to him when he apologizes"

"You both act like children." Damian gave an " _are you serious?_ " look to his older brother, "Right, sometimes I forget you are actually a kid..." he corrected himself. 

"He is not going to back down, is he?" Damian asked with a lot more serious tone than before, that caused both of the adults to look at him sympathetic. 

“You know how he is Dami… I’m sure he will say it, eventually, but I still think you should talk to him because something tells me that his ‘eventually’ is going to take a while”

“Hmmm” Damian mutter as he put the pancakes to the table, after that he sat down and ate in silence.

~*****~

Damian easy found his classroom and went inside, he was the first to arrive, not surprising thought, he got bored waiting home for school to start so he went for a walk and after a while he ended up at school.

He sat down at the last seat beside the window and pulled out his sketch book with a couple of pencils and of course he put his earphones on.

His sketch started from simple lines but it ended up in a beautiful scenery of the city’s dawn, more specifically the sight of the bridge as the sun came down and the night started devouring the day. By the time he finished his sketch the classroom was filled with his classmates, and a lot of noise which it irritated him. Even with his earphones he could still hear them, and the thing that annoying him the most was that he couldn’t hear the song clearly, so he decided to take them off.

“Aahh she’s so cute” He heard one of his classmates say. He looked at her way and for a brief moment he saw silver strings waving. His eyes winded at the realization “ _It couldn’t be…_ ” he thought but then his dark emerald eyes met her icy blue eyes.

“Are you really a high schooler?” Another girl asked her.

“Yes, I may look young but I am afraid I’m not” She replied while smiling.

“Okay everyone please sit down” The teacher said the moment he entered the class.

After the class Damian pick up his stuff and hurriedly left for his next class.

“You’re the boy from last night” He heard the familiar voice saying. He turned around to see the girl (the really short girl) with two other girls, probably her friends. Damian wasn’t taken by the fact she managed to make friends within only ten minutes, after all she was very friendly.

“And you’re the middle schooler” he said out loud without realizing.

“Middle schooler…” the girl repeated while the other girls tried not to laugh causing her to blush. Then she faced him, she looked at him in the eyes and said “I’ll have you know that I’m eighteen years old, sure I may not look like it and I may be on the short side **but so are you** ”. 

“Still taller than you thought, and are you really eighteen?”

“Want me to show you my ID?”

“No need” He said as he turned around to leave, but after he took a step he stopped and look back at the girl and said “Don’t take me wrong, it’s not your appearance that’s not convincing me but your brain” and with those words he left, leaving everyone with open mouths.

“I think winter is coming early this year, it’s getting rather chilly don’t you think” One of the girls said still dumbfounded from what just happened.

“My brain…” The silver haired girl repeated.

“Still Yuki, I had no idea you were eighteen”

“You’re older than us this is surprising… are you a repeater?”

“No, I’m not.” The girl said while looking up to the other two “I know you are wondering of why I’m in the first year instead of the third, but it’s rather personal and I don’t like talking about it”

The rest of the day continued with no other incidents or encounters, and so the first day of school came to an end.

Damian started heading towards his apartment when he noticed that the girl with the silver hair was following him. He suddenly stopped and turned around to confront her.

“Why are you following me?”

“I’m not, this is also the way towards my apartment. And besides why would I want to follow the guy who basically called me stupid?” He looked at her for a moment. “ _Is this really the fox girl_ ” Damian started to doubt his own judgement.

“Fine, whatever just keep your distance”

“Don’t worry, I don’t want to risk turning into an ice popsicle” She said while grinning, Damian thought for a moment to reply but then he decided it was too much of a hassle and that she would latter become an annoyance in his peaceful life, well as peaceful as the life of a vigilante could be anyway.

“Don’t you have to take a turn somewhere” She said after a couple of minutes, but she was ignored yet again.

When Damian finally arrived at his apartment, he looked back to see the girl gone, he sighed before getting his keys out.

“So, we are neighbors after all…” he flicked as he heard her voice. He took a quick glimpse of her and finally said “Lucky me” before entering his apartment.

Few minutes later he heard the bell ringing. He went and opened only to find the silver haired girl.

“It’s been a couple of minutes since we came back and you are already an annoyance.” He said with an annoyed look.

“You think that I want to be here?”

“Then why are you here?” As he asked her that he noticed her averting her gaze elsewhere and her fair skin slowly turning to a bright pink.

“I got locked out of my apartment and you are the only one I know” She said in a low voice.

“Not my problem” He said and closed the door. He looked over at Titus who was staring him. “What?” he said like he was expecting some kind of an answer, but instead he got his dog’s critically look (as critically as it can be, after all he is a dog.) He sighed and opened the door once again.

“Come in” He told her, and her eyes immediately lit up.

“Thanks a lot”

“I’m making dinner, you want anything specific?”

“No, anything is fine with me” She said while looking around. “Your parents aren’t home?”

“Father is in Gotham, mother I don’t know and I don’t care”

“Complicated relationship?”

“You can say that…” The girl’s eyes immediately landed on a picture, with four man, a little boy and Titus.

“Who are they?”

“My family, the men in the center is father, on his right is Grayson with Todd, and on his left is Drake with me and Titus”

“Who are you? and all those were just names…”

“I’m the kid, and those guys surrounding father are my older brothers”

“You were cute when you were a kid” She said and looked at him “What’s gone wrong?”

“Funny, though I would advise you to be careful how you speak to me after all I’m your host and I can always kick you out”

“And the ice prince is back… I just realized we haven’t really introduced have we”

“Your name is Kuroi Yuki, and from that I can only guess you’re Japanese” Damian said while looking at her “Half anyway”

“How did you know my name?”

“Attendances…”

“I see” she looked down for a second and then glimpse back at him. “I still don’t know your name…”

“Damian Wayne”

“American?”

“Half American half Tibetan”

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you Damian” the girl said and extended her hand to him, he looked and her hand for a moment then wiped his hand in order to shake it. “ _Her hand is so small_ ” he thought.

“I assume that my brother will be back in an hour, we can go ahead and eat without him,”

“Great, I can help you if you want”

“No need”

“Okay… can you tell where is the bathroom”

“Upstairs, Second door on the left”

“Thanks” She said and headed upstairs, “He said on the left or on the right?” She wondered then she opened the door on her right. It was a big bedroom with a double bed, a desk with a laptop and a personal bathroom, Yuki’s eyes fell on Damian’s backpack. “This has to be his room…” She saw out of the window only to see her room, “So our rooms are across one another’s.”

“What are you doing in my room?” She heard his cold voice, and felt a shiver down her spine.

“I couldn’t remember which door you said” she said innocently

“Whatever, you can go ahead and use my bathroom” Damian said as he took of his tie and started to unbutton his shirt.

“What are you doing?”

“Changing, the school uniform isn’t the most comfortable thing to wear”

“right…” She said and looked down at her shoes.

“So are you going to the bathroom or are you going to watch me changing” He said as he took off his shirt. Yuki immediately blushed to both his words and his naked and well-trained chest. His cold stare was what brought her back and once she was, she rushed to his bedroom’s bathroom.

Damian’s phone vibrated inside his pocket and took it out only to see a message from Dick. “ _I won’t be coming home until late at night, there is also a small chance that Starfire may be staying over tonight as well_ ” Damian quickly type an answer.

“Do you want to see a movie, or something?” He said and waited for an answer but he heard nothing, “Are you okay in there?”

“I’m fine… well actually I need a huge favor”

“Great another one, what is it?” She hesitated before saying.

“I need sanitary napkins…” Damian stayed silent, mostly because he tried to hold his laughter.

“I’m guessing that you will also need a shower and clean clothes” He said with great effort to sound as neutral as possible. Silence before the girl reply yes with a voice that was barely above a whisper.

“Go on ahead then, take a shower, I’m going to leave you some clothes but they are probable going to be big seeing how short you actually are, and as for underwear you’re going to have to tell me your size so I can buy some.”

~*****~

Yuki glimpse from the staircase to the kitchen to see if Damian was there, it was kind of hard to face him after all this.

“Why are you snooping around?” He whispered to her ear and felt his warm breath. She could feel her blood rising to her face causing her to blush. She slowly turned her head to face him. “You know because of you; I didn’t have had a minute of peace. You can’t imagine how hard was for me to buy you these” Damian said and looked down at the girl who was wearing his black shirt which it was a little bit above her knee.

“Well, it was hard for me too…” she said while averting her gaze, then she realized “how much do I own you for these?”

“I don’t care about that, now stop snooping around and let’s go to eat before the food gets cold.” He said and she slowly obliged.

Time passed and Yuki went back to her apartment, leaving Damian alone, but the day was already gone and night came, and this was Robin’s time. The only time he put his mask on and was free of the chuckles that binded him as Damian Wayne.


	4. A new player joins the game

Robin jumped from roof to roof, he tried to find criminals but like any other night, it was quiet, unlike Gotham. After hours of patrolling, he decided to rest, he sat on the edge of a roof and looked at the city that was covered in the night’s dark sky. There were no stars and the moon was covered by clouds. “ _Damian, where are you?_ ” he heard the best boy’s voice.

“I’m on patrol”

“ _Dude forget patrol and come drink with us. We’re currently at Queens club_ ”

“Tempting, but you seem to forget that I can’t drink at least not in public.”

“ _Now that you mention it… the security is pretty heavy here_ ”

“Well, the club does belong to Green Arrow.” As he said that he saw a small black figure running to the roofs. “Hey, I’m gonna talk to you later”

“ _Is something the matter?”_

“Not sure, Robin out.” He said and shut his communicator off.

He kept his distance from the black figure but he got close enough to see that this figure was the Fox girl.

“Yuki? What are you doing?” He said as he saw his fox neighbor dive inside an old rumbling house. That’s when he decided to talk to her. “You’re far away from home, Kuroi Yuki,” He told her when he made sure no one else was with them.

“Robin, you’ve been following me for a long time, didn’t know that you know my identity, not surprising though, after all, you do belong to the greatest detective bloodline. Damian”

“You know?”

“Only because I have a secret cheat”

“Which is?”

“Sorry neighbor but that is a secret I’m not willing to share”

“Superhearing?”

“You’re no fun, was it the ears?”

“And the fact you led me here”

“Yeah, sorry about that, but I really need your help. Remember the creature from last night? Well, something similar to that is roaming the streets, it’s far more dangerous and cleverer than the other.”

“And you need me to find it…”

“Yes, but you absolutely have to stay away from fighting it”

“What are those creatures? And why do I have to stay away?”

“They are called Kage, or in this land…”

“Shadows…”

“Yes, they are the inner demons of humans technically they are the representation of negative feelings. The one you faced yesterday was Gluttony or at least a part of it”

“Part of it?”

“Yes, it was weak, though it did have the same ability as the original and that was to eat the souls of its victims, making them also appear very old. The original sin is far more powerful than that.” She stayed silent for a minute then continue “The one I’m currently in the hunt is another Shadow called Greed of course once again it’s not the original sin” She started walking with Robin following her, she opened the door of one of the rooms and revealed tens of people, all body types even bodies that appeared to belong to children but their faces were faces belonged to old people, they were wrinkled but unlike Gluttony’s victims these people didn’t seem to have starved. “Greed, steels away their life force or in other words”

“Their years,” Damian said as he looked at a kid, he shouldn’t have been older than six years old but now he appeared as he was more than eighty years old.

“Yes, unfortunately, this is the third place I found in the past week. The police are trying to find it but even if they find they can’t kill it, only players can kill these creatures”

“Players?”

“They are the people that have been chosen by the gods to destroy these filths”

“Sounds like a game”

“Well in a way it is, The game of the gods… My abilities can only find the stench it leaves behind on its victims’ bodies, but not the monster itself.”

“And that’s why you need me”

“Yes…”

“My brother hasn’t said anything about these attacks”

“Your brother?”

“Nightwing, he is also a detective”

“The police try to hide these incidents, and it’s also for the best. After all, they can’t deal with shadows.” 

“You said there are three places, this is one of them. We need to go to the other two places as well.”

“One problem… Police”

“You just need to follow my lead and the police won’t be a problem”

They run through the roofs for about ten minutes before they finally reached their destination. Another old and abandoned house, well, it only looked abandoned. People were actually living there, they were homeless but they didn’t deserve their fate, they didn’t deserve to die like this.

“From the tapes on the floor we know that it killed eight people… there is also blood here… a lot, like that thing, has torn apart one of its victims”

“I found the crime scene, and you’re right one of the victims was beheaded”

“I thought Greed only steal years.”

“It does, I’m not sure if this crime was related.”

“What kind of clothes did the victim wore?”

“Old, with holes, didn’t have shoes either.”

“His legs, did he have any wounds”

“Plenty, along with calluses and funguses”

“Then he was definitely a victim, besides no one would be dumb enough to live a beheaded victim where all the other victims are… well you know. Was this the first strike or the second?”

“First, the second is on the other side of the town”

“Greed… it ultimately means steal… what if it can steal the face of another by eating it? Is that possible?”

“Oh my god, you are a genius. YES!!!”

“Then we only have to find these victims' identity and look at the streets footage to find him… He’s probably wearing the same clothes as this guy did”

“Wait… we need to go to the police station” Damian grin and looked at her.

“Do you trust me?” Yuki smiled at him and nod.

~*****~

“The sewers, I hate the sewers…”

“Stop complaining we didn’t have any other option. Besides, it did lead us to our destination”

“How did you know about the tunnels within the sewers?” Damian just looked at her.

“Right, your dad is Batman… Did you find anything yet?”

“Yeap, his name was Carl Williams, age 43 and a veteran, I need a little more time to gain access to the city’s footage”

“Someone is coming, three minutes. Do you think you can make it” Silence, after a couple of seconds Damian grinned.

“I’m in, now let’s find our monster…”

“He or she is coming closer D”

“Found him, he is on the docks,” He said then closed every widow he opened, seconds later dove with Yuki back on the sewers.

They used the tunnels to get at the docks, which were much faster than the roofs, but also a lot smellier.

When they arrived, they got back on the surface and on a high point to find him. Yuki who had her ears back moved them forward.

“What’s wrong?” Damian asked her as he noticed that.

“stay back” She said and jumped down. She started running towards a warehouse, and Damian followed her.

 **So many years, so much life**. Said the creature with the face of Carl Williams, his skin was a light gray and his eyes were black with red. He was holding a man with a sailor's uniform, he had stolen all his years.

“Greed, the stench you live behind on your victims is the same disgusting as you are,” Yuki said and then a spear made of ice appeared in her hand.

 **Player, young too, so many years to eat away**. The creature said and rushed over to her, she easily dodged him and landed on higher ground. The creature stretched its hands towards her and she froze them in a black unidentified mass. The ice started to break and Yuki Jumped down, she headed towards the creature while its hands were still frozen, she flipped her spear and attack, but only to be blocked by a third hand. The pressure threw her back and hit the wall with great force, causing her to stumble on her feet once she got up. In the meantime, the creature freed it’s two frozen hands and turned them into swords, and throw them to Yuki, who was still off-balance and couldn’t dodge them, she shut her eyes and felt the blood all over her. But she felt no pain, she opened them slightly only to see Damian standing Infront of her and being impelled by the creature’s hand-swords, he acted as a shield for her… he turned to look at her and whispered with his dying breath… _idiot,_ Yuki’s eyes filled with tears. The creature removed it’s hands off him, causing him to fall and make a pool of blood.

The light was becoming harder to see, up until there was no light, just darkness, cold and empty darkness.

“So, I ended up dead again,” He said while he was unable to move, he was just lying there, waiting to die.

The blood slowly started to take form and an enchanting woman with hair on the color of blood appeared before him.

“You weren’t here the last time I died.” He said to her.

“No, my child, I was not. Back then I thought it was your time to live this world but I was proven wrong.”

“And now? Am I ready?”

“Far from it.” The lady said and raised him to stand on his feet.

“Who are you?”

“Who I am is of little importance, but I shall tell you my name since you offered to hear. My name is **Ukufa** and you Damian Wayne has been proven worthy of my power, are you willing to take it and protect humanity as you did for all these years? Are you willing to stay alive?” Damian didn’t know what to say, only one word came to mind.

“YES”

“Very well then, I shall bless you with the flaming heart of the dragon king and his fearsome eyes, question is what are you going to offer me in exchange for these gifts and your life?” Damian looked at the woman in her black eyes, nothing came to his mind.

“I… I have nothing to give” He finally said “Only my promise that I will fulfill my duty without failure”

“Promises are just empty words, however, I sense your kindness and so, I shall choose…” She came closer to him and whispered in his ear “what to take from you”

She said and then flames covered this pitch-black space.

And so, he raised from the flames, much like the eternal bird of fire, phoenix. His eyes turned to gold and like the mysterious lady said it was the fearsome eyes of a dragon, his clothes changed as well his cape became a dark red coat with a hood, his gloves turned to black gloves with no fingers, his Robin uniform changed to a simple black shirt with red details, his pants changed to black trousers and his shoes change from green to red. His mask was replaced by a black skull mask that covered most of his face, leaving his chin exposed.

**PLAYER ENGAGED IN TUTORIAL, NO OUTSIDE FORCE MAY INTERRUPT**

“He… he became a player, he now has the system…” Yuki said while her eyes were fixated on Damian, she couldn’t believe he was chosen as a player.

**TUTORIAL WILL BEGIN IN THREE**

**You alive champ? Well better for me I get to kill you all over again**

**TWO**

**I got to ask what the hell is this voice?**

**ONE TUTORIAL ENGAGED, BODY CONTROL 100% SUCCESS**

With those words, Damian rushed forward to where the monster was, his speed was unparalleled flames, coming from his feet and kicked the creature with enough force to sent it flying. Damian jumped and Beautiful black dragon wings appeared on his back.

The creature sent yet again his hands with the form of swords towards him, Damian caught the hand that was targeting his heart, as for the other two, flames started to turn them into ashes. While holding its hand he pulled it closer only to kick it back down to the warehouse. He flew down there, and as his feet touched the ground the wings on his back burned and disappeared.

**Stay away**

It said, but Damian slowly walked towards it with flames roaming up his hands. Out of feat the creature turns to a black ball to protect itself, Damian stopped and put one of his hand forward, the fire took the form of a Chinese dragon and rushed towards the creature, it circled around it faster and faster until the black ball became a fireball. The creature couldn’t take the heat and turn to slime to slip away, but its Greed was too big and it wanted to eat all the life it could, so it headed to Yuki.

As his blessing said he now owned the fearsome dragon eyes that could see everything, lighting came down and surrounded his body he started running towards the slime and jumped. The lightning that surrounded him became more aggressive and soon he disappeared into the dark night only to reappear above the creature who had now taken its real form and stabbed it with a sword made of fire. The creature started burning from inside out, then a black book appeared before Damian and he cast a spell.

“ _Ego sum ille qui iam accepit beneficium mortis numen Ukufa et potestas data est ad aeternam carcere eram concludens in carcerem mei Grimoire_.” As he said that, his flames turned to a beautiful blue fire dragon, he had on its mouth Greed and pulled him inside his Grimoire.

**TUTORIAL FINISHED**

**BODY CONTROL RETURNED TO PLAYER**

As the voice said that Damian’s clothes returned back to his usual Robin uniform and he collapsed. Yuki rushed over to his side. Damian, Damian. She repeated over and over with tears in her eyes. Then she took notice of his communicator that had been left untouched by the system.

“Anyone please answer, I am in the docks with Damian and he has collapsed I don’t know what to do…” she said through her sobs. She only then noticed the goddess that had given Damian her blessing.

He was the first champion of Ukufa the goddess of death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Ego sum ille qui iam accepit beneficium mortis numen Ukufa et potestas data est ad aeternam carcere eram concludens in carcerem mei Grimoire." (Latin)  
> "I am the one that has received the blessing of the goddess of death Ukufa and have been given the power to imprison you to the eternal prison of my Grimoire."


	5. Great power comes with a heavy price

Damian opened his eyes and sat up on his bed feeling unable to breathe, it took him a few seconds to calm himself and to readjust his breathing. Afterward, he looked around to see that he was in his room “after all it was only a dream” he thought.

He got up and went to the bathroom to wash off the sweat he had run down his face, he opened the sink and saw the water running with his eyes wide opened. He could see the water running yet he couldn’t hear it “What the hell?” he muttered, he was sure he said that out loud but he couldn’t hear his own voice, making him think whether he actually spoke or thought. He looked at the mirror only to see his hands filled with weird-looking symbols similar to tattoos, that led to his shoulders and behind his neck and back. “What is this?” he said, but yet again he couldn’t hear, only this time he was certain he talked seeing his lips moving in his reflection on the mirror. His eyes landed on Yuki behind him, she was smiling at him but at the same time she had tears running down her face, he saw as her lips were moving, she was talking but nothing of what she was saying made it to his ears, making him miss her annoying voice. She looked at him through his reflection in the mirror, her smile started to disappear when she noticed the panic in his gaze. He slowly opened his mouth to talk uncertain if his words were going to reach the small presence behind him.

“I can’t hear,” he said then repeated as he was trying to listen to his own voice “I can’t hear anything, not my voice, not the water and not you” The girl looked at him with shock then she runs over to him and hugged him tightly.

“It’s all because of me, I shouldn’t have got you involved,” she said while crying, and much like before her voice didn’t reach him.

“Why can’t I hear?” he said while looking down at the running water as tears were forming in his eyes. He swept those tears away the moment they started to form, he didn’t want to show weakness not to her and not to anyone. He took a deep breath and wash his face. “You can let me go now, I’m okay,” he said to Yuki who still had her arms around him. She did as she was told then Damian turned around and asked her what happened. How was she supposed to tell him when he had lost his ability to hear? Then an idea stroked her.

“Chat room open,” she said, Damian may have lost his hearing but he could still read her lips and so he repeated after her, making her look at him with surprise.

“I still can’t hear but I can read lips” he explained to her. A window opened before his eyes that was similar to a game’s chat room, he even had notifications. He pressed the icon with the exclamation mark and read. “ **Player Kuroi Yuki has sent you a friend invitation. Decline or accept?** ”, friend invitation, that only made it more like a game.

“Accept,” he said realizing he could use this “system” with both voice commands and as a touched screen.

A message popped up in his chat room, it was from Yuki.

“ _Last night you became a player_ …” he read

“Players, as the people that have been chosen by the gods to destroy shadows? As people like you?” he said

“ _Yes… last night I was about… I was about to die when you got Infront of me and protected me with the cost of your own life, next thing I know you’re are surrounded by fierce flames and standing back on your feet interacting and equipping the system_ ” she paused for a moment looking at him then she continued “ _The power of the gods always comes with a price. The price you paid was your hearing…_ ”

“What about those marks?”

“ _It’s the first time I’m seeing something like this… it probably has to do with the Goddess that blessed you_ ” Damian froze as he read the word Goddess, he felt all of his hazy memories returning to him along with a specific spell. The spell he used to capture Greed.

“Ukufa, the Goddess of death” He mumbled.

“ _You’re the first player she ever chose… it could be that one of the conditions was for the player to die,_ ” She wrote.

“Those marks what do they mean?”

“ _I have no idea; I only know the meaning of the one on your back. It’s ouroboros in the shape of a dragon, it eats his own tail and its meaning is the cycle of…_ ”

“it's the symbol for eternal cyclic renewal of life, death, and rebirth.” He said before Yuki finishes typing. She simply nodded then added.

“ _You have been in all three stages, Life, Death and Rebirth_ ”

“Two times now…” She looked at him puzzled “Never mind, what else can you tell me about shadows and the ‘system’?”

“ _The shadows are the Children of Εφιάλτης_ (pronunciation: Efialtis meaning Nightmare see the notes for more info) _the God of Darkness, no one really knows his real name and the gods have also forgotten. In any case, Efialtis gave life to the seven original shadows known as the seven deadly sins, making him also the original sinner he also cursed the humans to have such emotions, and if their emotions and thoughts are strong enough take the form of shadows. Currently, there are known three types of corruption which are lustful appetite, irascibility, and corruption of the mind. As for the system it was given to us by the Gods and Goddesses, it has four main capabilities, the chat room, which we are currently using, the status window, where you can find all the information about your powers, abilities, blessing even biological information, then it has reconnaissance of shadows, and as the name implies it tells when a shadow is hiding among people and last but not least the inventory_.”

“Inventory?”

“ _Where all your weapons, clothes even your books or money can be stored, also the main reason why I don’t carry bags, except the school of course_.”

“And what about the Gods and Goddess?”

“ _They present themselves to us as gods but in reality, they are the spirits of creation, they are the ones that help God to bring life in our world_ ”

“I’m not much of a believer”

“ _I’m not either, but that’s what we were told_.”

Their conversation was interrupted as Dick entered the room with a face filled with relief, he started talking fast and even though Damian could read lips he spoke way to fast for him to understand.

Yuki looked at him and started typing as fast as she could.

“ _He says that you made everyone worried, I filled them in, in details but he also wants to listen to your story… he called for the rest to come… he talks way too fast saying how relieved he is that you are awake or the rest of the family would kill him if something had happened to you…_ ” 

Soon the room was filled with voices and the Titans everyone surrounded Damian and talked to him. He felt his heart beating faster as he saw them talking but was unable to listen, he felt like he was suffocated by the soundless words they spoke until he couldn’t take it anymore, he gritted his teeth and then shout.

“I can’t hear” He saw that everyone stopped talking and was looking at him with eyes wide open, then he said in a calmer voice “I’m deaf”

Dick looked over Yuki like he was expecting some kind of an answer, but she remained silent. “You said that he paid a price for his powers, a price you didn’t know, so I’m asking you was his hearing the price he paid?” he asked her as calmly as he could but the anger and worry were obvious in his voice. Yuki looked at the floor and simply nodded. Dick looked back at Damian and he was about to tell him something but was cut short by his little brother.

“I can’t quit being Robin or whatever I am now, because if I do, then I will die by that very same power that was given to me” Everyone looked at him with surprise especially Yuki, she didn’t manage to tell him that if a player didn’t fulfill his or her duty they would remark as sinners and face death by their own blessings.

Nightwing said out loud and sign to him what he meant by that. The one to answer was Yuki and at the same time type to Damian what she was saying.

“Players have three basic rules, the first and most unbreakable rule is that all players no matter what have to fulfill their duty or else they are faced with death by their own power, then it’s about the villains we catch. The villains whom we have to capture on our Grimoires are not humans but they are born from human desires, despairs, fears, greed, and so on. Therefore, an ordinary villain like Joker cannot be captured inside of our Grimoire because if they do, they will die. That is one of the greatest rules of the game, if it is broken the player will receive a curse and those players are called cursed players. The third rule is player killing, if a player kills another player, he or she receives a curse as well and their title changes from player to player-killer in order to protect other players. If a cursed player exceeds the number of punishments which is three, they become fallen and are treated as shadows.” They all looked at each other, the atmosphere grew heavy until Beast Boy decided to lighten the mood. He went to Damian and put his arm around his neck.

“So, what are your powers?” He asked him and Damian who was looking at him gave him a cold stare implying he is stupid.

“I’m deaf you idiot I don’t know what you’re saying”

“Right, that’s a problem”

Dick sigh and touched Damian on his arm in order to attain his attention, once he had it, he signed to him what Garfield had said. Damian was skeptical since he didn’t really remember everything from last night, his memories were still hazy. He put his hand on his chin trying to remember something from last night but instead he remembered the properties the system had.

“Status,” He said and a window with his information opened.

“Status?” Raven asked.

“It’s one of the abilities the system gives us, it contains information about the user and only the user is able to see this information” Yuki replied as Damian studied the window in Infront of him.

“Here it says its fire and lightning creation and manipulation, all-seeing eyes and has a hidden ability…”

“Well, what is your hidden ability” Beast boy asked and Yuki reply to him instead of Damian.

“If he knew, then it wouldn’t have been hidden”

“The title that it has given me is Robin, but it also says in parenthesis wingless bird, fearsome dragon, Phoenix”

“Those are sub-titles” Yuki typed to him. “What is the name of your blessing?”

“The flaming heart of the dragon king and his fearsome eyes” Damian’s eyes winded when they fell on the species field, in his status window

“What’s wrong?” Yuki type as she and everyone else noticed his surprise

“In the field species… it says Dragon, not human…”

“The species usually changes when someone turns into a player, I’m not human either, instead I’m a Fox spirit or a Kitsune…”

~*****~

After their morning conversation, they headed to the Titan’s tower to see Damian’s powers in action. He was a fast learner and Yuki was a good teacher, their powers may be different but ultimately were they the same. It was all about control.

Damian after a few demonstrations and advice understood what he had to do. Fire was energy and in order to create that energy he had to focus his power and his own energy on his hands and feet creating fire. It was the same with lightning, that too was a form of fire and energy, but for some reason, it was harder to control than fire. They decided to focus on wielding and controlling the fire before the lightning, and after years of training Damian had in the league of assassins, he decided to combine his martial arts with his fire, executing amazing control and power that made Yuki somewhat irritated. She was happy that Damian understood and executed her commands nicely but he didn’t even make a mistake, when she was a starter, she brought winter in the summer. It took her months to learn control and he just learned it as if it was nothing in mere hours.

Everyone that was watching them was surprised at how powerful both of them were, not to mention that for someone who was deaf he blocked every ice attack even from his ‘blind spots’. It took them a while before they finally noticed that Damian’s eyes weren’t emerald green, and instead, they were a beautiful and enchanting gold color, the shape of his pupil were thin and sharp like it was for the reptilians.

After hours they decided to take a break, they went where the other Titans were and sat down with them. When Damian came closer to them, they were finally able to see his dragon eyes up close and were all captivated by the sight, to the point it gave him chills and soon afterward he changed his eyes back to their usual emerald color. Nightwing was the only person that had disappeared, he said he was going to speak to the rest of their family about what happened to him and haven’t heard from him since. Until he entered the training hall of the tower and filling his teammates and most importable Damian to what happened, telling him that they decided that it was for the best if Damian kept going to school but he would have to miss few days in order to deceive everyone and make them believe he had an accident that made him lose his hearing. He also said that their brothers warned him of sudden visits, making it sound more of a threat than an announcement. 

After that Damian and Yuki got back on their training while the other Titans left for patrol. Soon both of them were extremely tired and decided to head home. Then one problem arised in Yuki’s head. How exactly was she supposed to go home? She looked over at Damian who was putting his shoes on, his hair was wet indicating that he had taken a shower. Somehow, he felt Yuki’s eyes on him and turned to see her making their eyes meet. She looked away in embarrassment and didn’t notice that Damian came closer to her, she only noticed when the air around her was consumed by his caramel shampoo, making her giggle that at the thought that the ice prince had such a sweet smell.

“What are you giggling about?” He asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts and making her blush by the little space she had left. He was too close and the scent of caramel-filled her nostrils a lot more. Noticing that the little fox wasn’t willing to answer him he walked by her and went to his motorcycle.

“Aren’t you coming?” he said when he noticed she didn’t follow him. She looked at him with surprise “You don’t know how to go back” he added. Yuki gave him a smile and started running towards him. He gave her a helmet as he put on his own, he sat down and she did the same, it was her first time on a motorcycle she was afraid but also felt safe because of him. She put her hands around his waist and then drove off to the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Εφιάλτης / Efialtis was a citizen of ancient Greece based on Herodotus, presented himself to Xerxes and pointed out the narrow passage that led from Mount Kallidromo to Thermopylae and undertook to lead the Persians from there so that the Spartans of Leonidas (King of Sparta) could be hit from behind. He technically betrayed his fellow man for money and let them die out of greed but later on paid for this crime with his life as he was murdered.


	6. A DINSTANT MEMORY

It has been over two weeks since Damian became a player and lost his sense of hearing, during that time he modified his Robin uniform to pick up signals when someone was approaching him or was close to him, that way he would be able to keep his identity as Robin, but every time the lights of the tower started to light up red and the huge alarm would go off (not that Damian would be able to hear it) his older brother Nightwing, would stop him from joining the Titans to battle and left him behind with Yuki to train. It disturbed him in more than one way, it made him feel mad and useless, and the worst part was that Nightwing knew Damian could still be Robin. He was overprotective, and Damian knew that he couldn’t find the words to tell him he was alright, and that he wouldn’t repeat the past. But truth be told, he was far from being all right, it was hard for him to adjust to a world without noise. He loved quiet places but he also loved the noise and now He was being suffocated to a noiseless world, a world of pretend and lies, a world where he had to keep the mask of Damian Wayne, the bastard son of Bruce Wayne and the ice prince on forever. He felt lost and the only thing that could make him feel better, make him feel like himself, and his real self was being Robin and his brother tried to rip that away from him. He knew Nightwing only wanted the best for him, but he was doing more damage than anyone done to him before. (Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but you get the message).

“You hungry?” Yuki signed him.

“We just literally ate; how can I be hungry?” Damian asked her while lifting one of his eyebrows. Yuki’s face became red, then she opened the message window. ~ _The benefits of being a player; I guess_ ~ she thought.

“I’m still learning sign language, what I meant to ask was if you are okay.” Damian looked at her when he read the massage, then he signed.

“That’s how you ask it,” he told her.

“Okay, but are you alright?” he looked at her, his face was expressionless and his eyes seemed half dead.

“No…” he decided to say “Anyway tomorrow I’m coming back to school. Thanks for bringing me notes and stuff” He said trying to change the subject, but just like him Yuki was just as stubborn as he was.

“You can talk to me, you know that. Besides, I know how it feels. I know how it feels to give something of great importance for this power” Damian just stared at her, he knew she had to give something to obtain her power, but she seemed as healthy as a horse… pony in her case.

“What did you exchange half-pint? Your height?” He asked her with a small smile on his face.

“If you can make jokes like that then you must be okay.” She looked at him and knew that even if he was joking, even if he was pretending to be fine and even if was self – protecting himself by being defensive and cold, she knew he wasn’t alright, she knew he was in pain. “I’ll tell, but only if you tell me” Damian stared at her for a while then he decided to talk.

“It was on my thirteen birthday, my father and pretty much everyone except Alfred who’s our butler… was our butler forgot. So, you can imagine that I spent it with him... That night I snacked out, I was mad that they forgot… actually no, I wasn’t mad, I was sad but I didn’t blame them, I blamed myself. That’s when I start self-destructive and self-hating, all that anger and sadness I had, I spent it beating non-stop criminals to the point that they were half dead, but I got over my head, I knew I had skills but I also had doubts, it goes without saying that I became sloppy. I didn’t see him standing behind me and before I knew it, I was knocked out. I woke up to find myself tied upside down to a small, dark room, and on the other side stood Joker. I once returned the favor to him for beating and killing my brother Jason, I… I beaten him with a crowbar, the same way he did with Jason, I on the other hand didn’t kill him and now he wanted to return the favor once more. He was laughing the whole time and if it weren’t for Dick then I would probably be dead… again… I was told that I was in critical condition and was in a coma for two months when I finally woke up, I couldn’t take my identity as Robin, I was forbidden. I agreed for a couple of months but rage and all those thoughts came back to me, every day was a living hell and I wanted to die… I tried to do so, but I was caught red-handed by Alfred, he was the one to convince them to let me become Robin again, I really thought If I were back in the game everything would go back to the way they were, and they did, only this time it was worst, Dick and Jason were barely around Tim and me, let’s say we didn’t use to be close and father always ignored me, I was Father’s Robin’s yet I didn’t really want to be. He was constantly getting mad at me for not following orders but he didn’t give them out for me to follow as Dick did, he wanted me to watch and analyze him for me to understand him, but it wasn’t always easy so I followed my own brain and every time I did I wasn’t allowed to be Robin for a week, and for the most of time I wasn’t and when I wasn’t I stayed inside my room barely going out or eating because those thoughts increased so I turned myself to self – hurting and I had thoughts of trying to stop it again, to end it all, but Alfred was watching me like a hawk to make sure I didn’t and he had tried his best of comforting me, but he didn’t know the source and I wouldn’t tell him. It was on Christmas eve when we all gather for dinner and celebrating Dick noticed that I had lost a lot of weight and Jason noticed my dead expression and silence, and by that time I already had changed five middle schools, because of violence… That’s when Dick made the proposition to bring me here and start a new life here with him. In the beginning, my father disagreed telling him that I should stay with him, but we reached a point where even Tim noticed and came closer to me, but nothing changed the voices inside my head got louder and I got expelled from another middle school. Alfred and Tim finally convinced my father to let me go and stay with Dick, it took a lot of time to get over it. No that’s a lie, I never got over it, I always had those thoughts difference is that they weren’t as loud as they used to be. But now I’m feeling like I’m falling to that pit again”

“I… I would have never guessed… you always look so strong, and confident”

“Yeah, well in reality I’m quite broken from the inside”

“I’m sorry…”

“Why are you apologizing, it’s not like it was your fault”

“No, it wasn’t but I did have the wrong idea about you…”

“Which was?”

“It’s better if you don’t know… I noticed this was the second time you said you had died before”

“Indeed, I was ten. Not a story I would like to share right now though, besides it’s your turn. What did you exchange to become a player?”

“Memories…” Damian looked at her, she didn’t write it, she said it but he was able to read her lips. What she said confused him.

“I’m going to need something more than just that”

“When I was twelve, I was in a car accident with my family. My parents and little brother died, I was the only survivor and I had lost the use of my legs. My aunt and uncle from America took me in, they cared for me and loved me, but the pain was too big… I never thought of killing myself I was too scared of that. I knew how death looked and was terrified of it; I’m surprised you weren’t since you actually did die. At any rate after a year, I was forced to attend meetings to make me feel better but instead, it made me feel like shit. One day, as I was going to the meeting which was held in the general hospital a monster, appeared it was huge and it had many faces. I saw her stealing those faces yelling ~ **I am the most beautiful woman in the world** ~ and asking people ~ **Do you think I’m beautiful?** ~ if they said no then she would steal their faces if they said yes then she would give them her face, I was scared and I started rolling back, towards home, towards safety when she noticed me, she attacked and I fell, tears started streaming down to my cheeks. Then I heard a voice, soft and warm like the sun, He was surrounded with light and told me he was Vita the god of Life. He said he shall let me leave and give me back my legs but only if I fought for humanity with an exchange… my memories of my family, of my parents, and my little brother. I agreed and that’s when the city froze and my hair became from brown to silver, I took down Envy, the monster but later on I was left with tears as I tried to remember their faces. Somehow, I think Vita wanted to stop the pain I felt but… I may not have the memories but I do have the feelings from them, those were left behind to remind me…”

“In other words, you were left in a far worse state because you were hurting and you didn’t know why…”

“Yeah, I told my aunt and uncle that day I fell and lost parts of my memory and they tried their best to remind me but I would forget their stories the only thing I was allowed to remember was the car crash, not even their faces, or their age or their names. I know our house has pictures of them but when I look at them, I look at strangers, strangers that make me cry because I know it’s them but I can’t remember them and their faces are black because I’m forbidden to see them…” She broke down crying, wiping her tears and trying to hide her face from him, but she knew he could see her.

Damian watched her, he didn’t exactly know what to do, but he did what his brothers did to him when he himself cried. He pulled her hood over her face to cover it up and took her in a warm embrace. She felt so small in his muscled and big body, so fragile like a porcelain doll. They stayed that way, silently comforting each other because Damian needed it as much as Yuki did.


	7. The unravelling new world

Damian woke up from Alfred’s the cat fur on his face and more specifically on his nose making him sneeze, he looked at the cat who was trying to get his attention, his need for affection was as big as always. Damian simply gave a small smile to the cat and gently pet him.

After two weeks of training and skipping school to make it look like he went deaf due to an accident, he was finally allowed out of the house to take a breather. Even if that meant to go to a place full of teenagers pretending to be someone they were not and teachers that were trying to teach him things he already knew. Still, he was happy to just leave the house and the Titan’s tower and actually go somewhere else, especially since his Robin routine was on the breaking point. God only knows how much alcohol he drank during those two weeks in order to keep himself inside, even with Dick’s complaints of drinking too much, he too joined him, sometimes at least.

He got up from his bed and went straight to the bathroom, he opened the sink and watched as the water was running trying to remember how it sounded. He sighed heavenly and washed his face. After he had finished from the bathroom, he took out his pitch-black tracksuit and changed quickly to it. He run downstairs and put some food for Alfred the cat, he looked around the kitchen and living room searching for Titus when he saw him, he called him to come over and the dog obeyed his owner’s orders. After thirty minutes or so Damian came back after his run with Titus and headed straight to the bathroom to shower, he still couldn’t get used to the symbols all over his arms and his back (not that he could see the ones on his back without a mirror). He let the hot water run down on him as he got lost in his thoughts. He didn’t have the ability to hear anymore, everything was quiet to an upsetting degree. They still didn’t know what the symbols in his hands meant, they only knew the meaning for the one on the back of his neck. Ouroboros, the original symbol was in the form of a snake eating his tail, but in Damian’s case, Ouroboros was in the form of a dragon. Still, the meaning was the same, it was the eternal cyclic renewal, he went through these stages twice now, and ever since the incident two weeks ago, his nightmares of the past resurfaced once again. Heretic, his mother no Talia Al-Ghoul, she had lost her title after she killed him, her own blood, her son. The crimes he had committed when he was under the influence of the league of assassins and the worst one, Alfred’s death. Their butler, who was the only person he found worthy of the title of grandfather. He died because of him, in front of him in the hands of Ras Al Ghoul (In the comics Alfred died in front of Damian, but not by Ras Al Ghoul but by Bane.) Ras was trying to get his heir back; he knew his body was growing old and soon the Lazarus pit wouldn’t have effects on his body, so Ras needed a new body, and what was better than his grandson’s body? They had to be of blood relation for the spirit exchange to work and as much of a demon he was he couldn’t take his daughter’s body; his granddaughter had a big role in his plans and he couldn’t risk losing such a valuable pawn leaving him with one option. His grandson, Damian betrayed the league and chose to run in Gotham’s roofs playing the hero in some childish outfit and with a bird name.

He shook his head to kick out those memories, those thoughts. He got out of the shower and headed to his bedroom to put on his school uniform. In the corner of his eyes, he saw a figure move, he turned his attention to the window where he saw Yuki’s room. He had forgotten their rooms were across each-others. He saw her storming out of her room and in the bathroom, they still had plenty of time before school why was she in such a hurry? He chose to ignore his curiosity and to close his curtains to prevent ‘stalking’. Not from Yuki but from him. He was still a teenager after all and even though he was informed of the sexual intercourse from his ~~mother~~ Talia at a very young age – emphasis on the very – he couldn’t help the urges. Damn, he didn’t even know he had a type up until now, at some point he even doubted his own sexuality but only for a few hours after he had a talk with Jon who actually liked boys and dated Colin -Damian still doesn’t know how to feel at the fact that his two ~~best friends~~ , close accountancies are dating each other. Hanging out with both of them became very uncomfortable- after their long, very long talk, with details that Damian would prefer if he didn’t know, they reached the conclusion that Damian was heterosexual after all, even if he didn’t know what types of girls he liked. He preferred to remain oblivious towards his feelings but he knew better than that, he had an affection towards Yuki, one he would never admit, and one he preferred to hide behind cold attitude and mean jokes.

As he got downstairs the room was filled with the smell of grilled cheese and… burning toast? He wasn’t sure if it was burning toast or not but whatever it was, it was definitely burning.

“Good morning,” he said as he sat down at the table and watched as Dick and Kori made breakfast, and the burning he smelled earlier, he still couldn’t identify it as it was a black mass of… something. “What is that?” His curiosity finally took the best of him.

“Good morning” Dick turned around and signed. Then he added “They are supposed to be eggs. Not edible obviously” Damian couldn’t help but think that Dick was using sign language to tell him things about Kori without getting lectured or a head smack, a very powerful head smack.

“I think I should leave the cooking to you” Kori told him, then she waved to Damian as a way to tell him good morning. “Did you tell him yet?” Damian raised his eyebrow as to question what he needs to know. Starfire tends to forget that he could read lips. Dick turned his back to Damian so he could avoid the mistake that Starfire just did.

“No, with everything that happened, I couldn’t. I’ll talk to him today” Dick said and then put some orange juice in front of Damian who still looked at him with an eyebrow raised in question. Dick just gave him a small smile and handed him a small device. “The doctor said to wear this so people can know that you are deaf” He sign to him and Damian just stared at the small device before taking it and putting it to his ear. As they were eating Dick suddenly got up and headed towards the door, when he opened it the small figure of Yuki came to Damian’s field of vision. Her smile was bright as she came inside, Damian quickly averted his gaze to his food which he almost finished. His chatroom opened and saw a message from Yuki?

“Are you ready?” He drank his juice as fast as he could without choking and got up.

“I’m leaving for school,” He said as he put his dishes on the sink and put his bag over his shoulder.

“Have a nice day” Dick signed him with a huge smile and then informed him what Kori told him “Kori says to try to be friendly”

“Yeah, yeah,” He said and left with Yuki following him.

“You didn’t answer my question,” She wrote him once they were out.

“What do you think, since I’m walking to school with you?”

“I meant phytologically. It’s been over two weeks and… well your situation is different” He stopped and looked at her with his best bat glare, causing Yuki to flinch a little.

“I’m fine,” he said and started walking once again.

“Yeah, right,” she said sarcastically knowing too well that he wouldn’t be able to hear her.

When they arrived at school, Damian could feel the eyes of every student on him. He curled his hands into tight fists turning his knuckles white from the pressure. Yuki noticed it and carefully caught his hand when she got his attention, she gave him a small reassuring smile, that calmed him down a little.

When they reached their classroom, Yuki headed to one of their classmates in the front row.

“Hey Jared,” She said with her most angelic face “Could you switch sits with Damian? He has to be in the front row” The boy named Jared looked over at Damian who was obviously looking for an empty sit in the front row. He knew Damian from middle school, they were in the same class for the last two years. He respected him because of his grades and his athletic abilities. In truth he was a little jealous of him because he was good at many things and he was also good looking, not to mention the fact that he was a freaking Wayne, the son of a billionaire. When he heard about his accident, he like most of the students felt a little happy to finally know that a kid that usually was good at everything with almost no effort became disabled, but now that he looked at him, he felt guilty of his joy. He knew that Damian had too much pride to ask something like that and that he would sit back at the end of the classroom if he didn’t find any empty spots.

“Yeah, sure” He finally said and took his things to the last desk where Damian used to sit.

“Thanks,” Yuki told him with a smile. “ _How the hell a demon could get an angel-like Yuki on his side,_ ” Jared thought, feeling his jealousy rise up again, of course, that wouldn’t let his image towards Yuki tremble. He saw Yuki run over to him at touched him gently to gain his attention once again. She pointed at the empty desk in the front row that was beside the window, Damian raised his eyebrow and looked over at Jared who just shrugged and looked in his book trying to give him the impression of reading, not that it worked but Damian knew he couldn’t afford to sit back, so he just accepted it.

~*****~

The day, up until lunch passed by quietly. With the sound of the bell, Damian stormed out of the classroom and went straight to the cafeteria he took a salad and sat at the farthest table beside a window.

He thought the day would continue to be quiet but then he saw a hand land on his table sending vibrations making the water in his bottle move. He looked up only to see three guys. He didn’t really care enough to examine them, the guy in the middle that had his hand on the table was talking, Damian watched as his lips were moving and read. “The ice prince got what he deserved, serves you right always thinking that you are above us. In middle school, you kicked our asses but now you can see how useless you actually turned out to be” in the past he would never talk that way to him but because of his disability that guy actually grew some balls, he thought that the disability would make him weaker. He had no idea how wrong he was.

Damian took his eyes off his moving lips and looked the guy straight to his eyes sending him the coldest glare he had, the guy flinched a little but then he made a grimace and started talking again. Damian got up ready to punch the guy but he felt a small hand on his back that somehow calmed him. He turned his head only to see Yuki standing next to him and behind them her two friends. He noticed how Yuki turned to face the other guy her expression turned from soft to one full of anger. She took her hand off him and stormed to the other guy, she raised her hand and slapped him.

“Don’t you dare talk that way to him? He is more than you will ever be and trashing him now because he can’t hear just proves how much below him you actually are. Also, a fair warning, he may not be able to hear you but he can read lips, and sure as hell he can still fight, and even if he couldn’t I would be more than happy to kick your asses” she looked at the three men in front of her, they looked shocked, jaws dropped she took a quick glimpse around and saw that everyone on the cafeteria looked just as shocked as those three were. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down the storm inside her with little to no success, suddenly the storm disappeared as she felt Damian’s hand on her shoulder. She knew it was him, she didn’t have to turn around to see. “I hope I made myself clear,” she said looking in the eyes the guy that was trashing her ‘partner’ – even if Damian didn’t exactly know or had to know the fact that she was thinking of him as an equal and as a valuable partner – the guys just nod unable to speak then they just turned around and flee.

Yuki looked over Damian with the brightest smile she could master. He was surprised, to say the least, he didn’t expect her to defend him the way she did. “Thanks,” he told her and she signed him “any time little bird” he clicked his tongue at the nickname Dick’s influence for sure. He watched as she sat down at his table with her two other friends. One of them had dark skin with black hair that was cornrow styled and dark brown to almost black eyes and the other had white skin, green eyes, and short hair dyed in a rose-gold color. The girl with the short hair took out her notebook and wrote. “I’m Vanessa and this is Veronica or Verra for short. We didn’t get the chance to introduce ourselves last time” after he read what she had written he looked over to them. “I didn’t really give you the chance to do it” he paused for a second thinking what to say instead he extended his hand towards the two girls. Verra happily shook his hand, with overall excitement. Yuki watched the scene with a little smile on her face a smile that didn’t last for long as screams filled the room. Damian noticed the terror in the girls' faces and followed their gazes to a black creature. The system recognized it as Greed Shadow. Everyone started running, with panic consuming them towards the doors, he searched for a safe place to change to his new attire when he found it. He grabbed Yuki’s hand as they were running and blending with the crowd for cover and moved them to the side, where it was the vending machine, and had a little space for both of them to find cover and change. The space between them was limited but they had to make it with what they had; this was the best cover they could have right now. Flames started to cover Damian as his clothes changed back to his red coat and half skull mask, Yuki on the other hand, she was surrounded by snow that slowly changed her clothes to her usual black-red kimono.

 **Why does he have it all? Why him and not me?** The shadow said. Yuki looked over at Damian and massaged him, “He is a _newborn_ his abilities are limited to energy snatching, meaning that you will start feeling extremely tired and he will grow very powerful, also if you fall asleep the chances of waking up are very low, keep your distance” when she finished, she took two fans out of her inventory and with their help, she called a snowstorm lifting the _newborn_ shadow in the air. Damian created a fire bow with three fire arrows and shoot them to the shadow pinning him to the wall. The fire arrows took the shape of a net that burned the shadow and in return to the burning, the shadow screamed.

“ _Ego sum ille qui iam accepit beneficium mortis numen Ukufa et potestas data est ad aeternam carcere eram concludens in carcerem mei Grimoire_.” Damian said and his flames took the shape of the beautiful blue fire dragon, once again, and snatch Greed to his mouth pulling him to Damian’s Grimoire.

**System Notification**

**System skill unlocked, Player and Shadows subtitles**

**Whenever a player or shadow talks to you their words will take form.**

**A PRESENT FROM THE GODDESS OF DEATH**


	8. Fire and Ice

Damian looked at the system notification, from what Yuki had told him the system offered them limited qualities, such as the inventory or the status window. Was this trait something he only had? It said that it was a present from Ukufa, was she trying to find a way to replace his hearing? This was getting more and more confusing the longer he thought about it.

His thoughts were interrupted by his chat room that covered his system notification.

“We have to get out, disappearing when the kitsune and the phoenix appeared will make us suspicious” he looked at her, she chose to call him phoenix they hadn’t even discussed a new hero name, but of course she went ahead and decided a name for him without even asking him.

He sighed and close his chat room; he looked at his system notification once again before closing it.

“talk” was the only word he told her. She looked at him confused. “just say something, anything, I want to check something” she was still confused but obliged nonetheless.

“We should change to our school uniforms…” was all she said, and just as the system said her words were written in gold letters in front of him. “ _Subtitles, but only for players and shadows,”_ he thought _._

“The system gave me a new trait, subtitles but only for players and shadows,” he said as flames consumed his body, and a few seconds later he was back to his school uniform. Yuki looked at him surprised but then said.

“The gods sometimes help their players with system traits or powers. For example, an old friend of mine exchange the ability to walk but gained wings. And I have heard of a player that is blind and has gained a system trait called thorough map, he has a detailed map image in his brain that shows his surroundings like he was never blind” She looked at him then added “Players call such an act Gods or Goddesses Gifts”

“But when someone becomes a player gets their powers how is that a gift?”

“Tiara’s wings appeared three years after she became a player and she didn’t have a hidden ability. She is an evolved player, unique but not impossible. Most players receive gifts in the form of system traits which is also rare by the way, especially if you receive it in such a short time span as you did, but considering that you are the first player that Ukufa chose it’s normal I guess.”

“I see” he paused for a moment then said “come on we need to join the others outside”

They got outside through a window and join the other kids, he saw a few of his teammates like Starfire, blue beetle, and Wonder girl flying inside the building realizing that he forgot to inform them. He looked around and saw multiple police cars and police officers along with ambulances for kids that got injured. Among the police officers were also two detectives, John Cray, and his brother. They were talking to the school principal that was trying to gather his thoughts but failed to do so.

After a few minutes, the Titans came out. Starfire looked over at Damian and gave him a small nod. She then landed in front of the detectives and assured them that the matter was settled and there was nothing to worry about. Afterward, she left with the other two Titans back to the tower. 

The detectives exchanged a few more words before separating, one heading back to the car and the other to his younger brother.

“You did well today.” He sign knowing that both could understand.

“Thanks, Dick,” Yuki said and the letters appeared in front of Damian once again.

“How long will the school remain closed?” Damian asked

“Two days, at most three. Come on I’ll take you back home and Dames fair warning John came with me so be nice to him in the ride” Damian just raised an eyebrow.

“If he doesn’t know sign language, I’ll just ignore him”

“Of course, you will, he knows about your situation since I had to take a few days off 'to look after you’ I think you met once”

“Two years ago, I remember,” Damian said as he turned around and started heading towards the car

“Yuki give a call to your aunt and uncle and tell them you’re okay and you will be in our house”

“Okay, but, your house?”

“I have to go back to work; it would be for the best if you keep some company to baby bat”

“baby bat” Yuki repeated and giggled at the nickname.

“Don’t call him like that or we will both be in trouble” he said laughing.

The ride back home was silent except for the typing noise from Yuki’s phone as she texted Vanessa and Verra, she didn’t really have had the chance to talk to them after the attack. She informed them, that both Damian and she were fine and Damian’s brother gave her a ride back home. She even used the system’s chat room to talk to Damian about the Shadow and to ask if it would be okay to give his number to her friends. It confused him as to why they would want his number but thought it would be okay so he just nodded.

“So, are you his girlfriend or what?” John finally broke the silence as he couldn’t take it anymore. Yuki looked at him from the mirror surprised, then she felt the blood rising to her cheeks and ears.

“No, no.” she immediately refused and added in much hurry “we are neighbors and well…” she hesitated a little and looked over to Damian, she knew with his new system skill he knew what she was saying, so she was hesitant. She gathered up all her courage and said with a smile “we are also friends”

“But you still like him,” John said raising an eyebrow and looking at her with a smug smile on his face. Dick who was listening carefully couldn’t help but smile a little bit too much at the scene, even though he knew it wasn’t fair to live the youngest bat out of it.

“What are you talking about?” Damian finally said as he saw the panic rising in Yuki’s face, he thought she looked cute but brushed those thoughts away the moment they came into his mind. John turned around to look at him and for a moment he thought to mess with the kid’s hair but then remembered what happened two years ago when he first met him, Damian almost broke the man’s arm because he tried to mess with the kid’s hair.

“I don’t know sign language,” He said to Yuki while looking at him.

“That’s irrelevant, I can read lips”

“We are here we have to get going Damian, Dick and Mr. Cray have to go back now,” Yuki said while pulling his arm in hopes to get him out of the car and to avoid the conversation but miserably failed.

“We were making small talk, about romance,” John said with the smug look still on his face, Dick just looked at the teenagers with a small grin on his face and Yuki just became even redder than before.

“I doubt the elf over here has anything related to romance” which caused John to grin.

“Kid you have no idea.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Dick said then he touched his brother’s shoulder and sign to him, while at the same time translated what he told him for John to understand. “Damian, we have to go back to work now, there is food in the fridge and Kori will come home late at night. Be careful okay?”

“Like there was a need to tell me that.” He said while looking at him “I am not the one in the middle of gunfire every now and then”

“Kid’s got a point”

They got off the car and watched the car as it got further and further away.

“Dick told you to stay with me, didn’t he?” Damian finally said, Yuki glimpse at him thinking of her answer but finally deciding it would be for the best if she just told him the truth.

“Yeap”

“What were you talking about with Cray?” As Yuki remained quiet Damian glimpsed at her, seeing her to be redder than a tomato he decided to drop it, at least for the time being. He turned around and walked over to his doorstep and stopped before opening the door. “Would you like to accompany me to the dog park?”

~*****~

The walk to the park was silent and now they pleasantly sat into each other’s quiet company. For some reason Yuki’s presence was calming but it also made him feel restless sometimes. There were times where he would send her secret stares, examining her face and there were times when his eyes would land on her lips, her light pink and small lips would captivate him, making him wonder how would they taste, how would they feel. He tried to keep those thoughts in the back of his mind, but every time he looked at her it became harder for him to do so.

“About the hidden abilities… what exactly are they?” he decided to break the silence as he kept becoming more lustful, he wanted to touch her and his thoughts were becoming a mess. He needed a distraction and small talk, even if he wasn’t good at it, right now was his salvation. 

“Hmmm” Yuki hummed trying to find the right words. “It’s usually a very powerful ability that’s unique among all players.”

“So, no one can possess my hidden ability but they can possess my other powers?”

“It’s more complicated than that. Sure, there might be players that can control the fire element, seeing that elemental powers are actually very common, but they certainly don’t possess the same power pattern as you. Every player has a unique power pattern that identifies them and compliments their personality, sometimes it can go as deep as to reflect their souls.”

“hmm, still why fire? Based on my personality doesn’t ice compliments me better?”

“Just like I said, sometimes it goes as deep as to reflect someone’s soul, you sacrificed yourself in order to protect me, you went through death, twice now. Self-sacrifice for someone else’s well-being proves your kindness, at the same time you can be passionate, either for your duty as Robin or for your drawings, don’t deny the last one I’ve seen you drawing and you’re very passionate, and lastly, it has another meaning, you raised through the assess like a phoenix. You went through death and then came back through fire.”

“I guess that makes sense, but what about you why ice?”

“ _Some say the world will end in fire, Some, say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice._ It’s a famous poem called fire and ice. Fire can also stand for desire, but that doesn’t reflect nor your heart nor your personality so desire isn’t the reason why you wield flames, it’s your sense of duty and the kindness within that does. And the stronger they are the stronger you will become. As for me, ice in this poem stands for hate and that is the reason why I wield ice, because of the hate towards the one who caused the crash, knowing far too well that they won’t face true justice and towards shadows that kill innocents for their desires”

“I know the poem… Nietzsche, once wrote in one of his books, Human, all too human, - _He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of dispute_ \- ice also stands for clarity but in my opinion, it can also stand for strength, when talking about a person it reminds me someone who is strong and will stand its ground until he or she can no longer stand. It means to be steady and strong as an iceberg, unbreakable but it can also stand for beauty and elegance. I don’t know about the hate you have on your heart but I know that it’s not powerful enough for you to possess the amount of power you have, in other words, the source of your power isn’t hatred, it’s something stronger” Yuki looked at the man that sat beside her in the bench, surprised by his words. She never expected him to say those words, she knew that Damian was deadly honest and blunt, he spoke his mind sometimes without thinking, but he always spoke the truth. He was mysterious and had secrets, but he did not lie to keep them, he would just avoid the subject or say he couldn’t tell.

“thanks” she mumbled while feeling her heartbeat rising and at the same time tried to keep a blush from making its way to her face but miserably failed to do so.

“There is no need to thank me, I only spoke the truth, so back to hidden abilities, when will I learn what it is?”

“When you will most need it”

“What about? Have you activated it?”

“Yeah, I know what it is, I actually tried to tell you when you woke up then you told me you couldn’t hear, I feel guilty for what happened to you and I think that guilt will never suffice.”

“Why feel guilty? Sure, I can’t hear but at least I am alive”

“Because there was no reason for you to sacrifice yourself in the first place, Damian. Eternity that’s my hidden ability which means I’m immortal while I can feel the pain I will always heal and I’ll never die or grow older, I look like fifteen because that’s when I activated my power, so I’m stuck like this forever. Looking like a fifteen-year-old even if I’m thirty or forty” By the time she finished talking she was sobbing.

“There is no reason for you to feel guilty, you said you can feel the pain therefore I know I did the right choice. That hurt like hell and I feel like if you were in my place you would just have had kept going forward ignoring the pain.”

“If you’re trying to comfort me, you are failing, miserable”

“I’m not good at that, that’s Dick’s division, not mine… does it help if I say I have pain tolerance so it didn’t really hurt as much?”

“No…” that made her feel a little better, seeing him, try to make her laugh.

“I don’t like your crying face; I take back what I said about elegance and beauty” and that earned him a punch in his shoulder which he didn’t really feel.

“You can’t take it back, it’s the truth after all,” she said while wiping some of her tears away and replacing her sad face with a smug one.

“Do you seriously believe that?”

“Not everyone can be a model you know…”

“if you were taller you might have had a chance…”

“You are sort too…”

“I’m 1.83…”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah… you only called me short because I called you half-pint”

“and an elf”

“and an elf, seriously how tall are you?” she looked at him with a red face while pouting.

“… 1,50” she hesitantly said

“If it makes you better, I used to be really short everyone thought I was superboy’s little brother because he was taller than me, while in reality, he is three years younger, he is just tall for his age though”

“At least now you’re taller now, right?”

“Yeah… for now, he grows like a plant, like he is absorbing sun rays or something, I give it a year or two before he surpasses me.”

“We can be short together,” she said while laughing. ‘ _I wish I could hear the sound of her laugh_ ’

he thought and this time he didn't brush those thoughts away.

“Even if Jon is taller than me, I’m still tall so you will be short by yourself”

“That’s just mean…”

“That’s just reality…”

“Whatever you say… baby bat” she looked at her with a raised eyebrow

“Someone is going to die today”

“Poor Dick”

“Two people are going to die today” She looked at him with a fake offended expression

“Traitor,” she said laughing and afterward they fell to a comfortable silence once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fire and Ice poem Summary  
> The speaker weighs up two different scenarios for the end of the world. Some people think the world will end in fire, whereas others think ice is more likely. Based on the speaker's experiences with desire, he or she tends to agree with those who believe fire is the more likely scenario. If the world were to end twice, however, the speaker feels that, based on his or her knowledge of human hatred, ice would be an equally powerful method of destruction—and would do the job sufficiently.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, this is an original story based on DC characters and Comics... (yeah probably comics too), to be honest, I don't know where this is going or how is going to end but I do have a basic idea. Anyway feel free to comment and share your opinion, and if you have any idea for the story you are more than welcome to share.


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